RVCA got 4 houses on the North Shore this year and packed them with an eclectic mix of talented people. They asked me if I wanted to go (I do not know how I got included), I did and below is what happened.

Hawaii, it seems like such a simple place. Simplicity is there to be had if you want it but hawaii is not a simple. Hawaii has a little bit of Hollywood some Miami, a bit of Brazil, a lot of Australia and a dash of New York all wrapped up with waves, coconut trees and pineapple bushes. Hawaii is a dynamic and as we will soon see a bizarre place. -Kelsey Brookes

The sunsets are simple though.

Below is the first thing I saw when I got to the north shore. Kevin Ancell wearing his DFW shirt painting a surf board for Reef Mcintosh. Kevin plays the part of a tough character pretty well but he is really just a sweet and happy man who happens to paint better than pretty much anyone. He still refuses to surf with me for some reason though.

This is a pretty standard dinner for me in Hawaii. Ahi Poke and Seaweed Salad from Kahuku Superette. Surf in the ocean all day, stuff the ocean in your mouth at night...your surrounded by it so you might as well embrace it. We all did.

This day was too big for me to surf. I like juice but not this much. Instead I opted to go down to the contest (pipe masters) and watch the worlds best huck themselves over the ledge.

I ran in to Lucy Goodwin from Monster Children out walking around the contest in this awesome hat. She is the best and just got engaged to Aaron Rose who is also the best! Congratulations are in order.

I also ran into artist Russ Pope and photographer Nolan Hall at one of the many awesome Vans BBQ's. Vans does such a good job with there BBQ's. If you ever get the invite....go.

Rod from Blue Hawaii. He is a happy man. They also just opened a gallery that Russ was doing a show at.

This is my studio set up. View was pretty ok...

How is this pile of surf boards in front of our house? Lots of board trading happened every day. (Philip.....dude....again...sorry for pile-driving your board into the reef I tried to fix it)

I woke up one morning and Julian Schnabel walked into our house. He has such a great presence. From the pajamas to the phone, his glasses and even the way he looks at you...commanding and curious at the same time. He is good friends with Danny Fuller who is a RVCA surfer and artist. Julian came out to surf and relax like the rest of us.

This is World Champion Nathan "Noodles" Webster's girlfriend Alex Spencer. She is a model and runs a blog called 4th and Bleeker that gets like a billion hits an hour. They are both wonderful people. I gave her one of my buttons from the show I just did in London!

I gave one to surfer/shaper Ellis Ericson too but he just ate it. Typical "surf doggy" behavior.

Danny Fuller is happy to be back in Hawaii. He and his girlfriend live between Hawaii, New York and Venice Beach. Pretty good trio of cities if you ask me.

Julian gave haircuts to some of the RVCA guys.

This is Noodles and Alex again. I interrupted them while they were shooting a post. I thought they were both going to "cool guy" me and not be nearly as rad as they were. They are both tall, good looking and talented so I guess I expected them to blow me off. But I could not have been more wrong. They are truly good people and a great couple too.

Pat Tenore! How awesome is this man. He is the mad genius behind RVCA and loves mixing diversely talented people together to see what comes out. His entire company is based on this principal...balance of opposites. He is such and inspiration!

Noodles and Christian Fletcher.

Quicksilver's Bruce Raymond brought over this amazing hand shaped and signed Dick Brewer rhino chaser for Julian to paint.

Pat showed up to watch.

Herbie Fletcher came over to document & Estevan Oriol broke out his camera.

Noodles jumped on a broom?

And Julian got down to work under heavy scrutiny.

It sure was fun watching him paint. Such confidence in his movements... I swear I painted a board in this exact spot 30 minutes before this an no one showed up at all?

Makua Rothman showed us how all the old school guys used to hold their boards. That board is one of Ellis's shapes. Its a single fin with a couple of finlets on the sides. Makua took this board out and ripped the shit out of it proving again that he kills it in surf anywhere between 1 and 100 feet.

Here is Bruce holding his new Julian Schnabel painted, hand shaped and signed Dick Brewer. Pretty sure its not goin in the water again.

Here is one of the boards I painted. I named it the tropical popsicle after my friends band in San Diego.

Herbie set up a Wave Warriors 2011 shoot. He and Julian both photographed the historic gathering of surfers. It was a pretty heavy scene.

Julian Schnabel, Rory Russell and Danny Fuller. What!!!! How awesome is that conversation.

Julian bought one of Rory's classic pipe boards and I borrowed it for a quick photograph. Held it just like Makua taught me.

We had a Wave Warriors BBQ at the house complete with the "Bali Magic Man". Magic Man is a staple of the Balinese surf scene and apparently rips too. Christian became friends with him and invited him out to Hawaii. Here he is messing with Herbie.

The magic man smashed up a bunch of glass bottles, laid on them with no shirt on and got Julian and Estevan to stand on his back. He got a bit cut up but not what you would expect....its magic after all.

More fun to come in the next post....